Paul Ratliff was an American psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and former design strategist best known as the husband of actress Maggie Siff.
He passed away in December 2021 after a battle with brain cancer, leaving behind his wife and their daughter Lucy.
This article covers everything known about his life, education, career, and his relationship with one of television’s most respected dramatic actresses.
Who is Maggie Siff?
Maggie Siff was born on June 21, 1974, in the Bronx, New York City. She is an American actress with a career spanning theater, film, and prestige television.
Her father, of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, was a stage actor, and she has said she feels “culturally Jewish” because of how she was raised.
Siff attended The Bronx High School of Science before earning a Bachelor of Arts in English from Bryn Mawr College in 1996. She later completed a Master of Fine Arts in acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
After graduating, she briefly worked as a temp at a hedge fund, an experience she later drew on for her role in Billions.
She won a Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theater in 1998 for her work in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts at Lantern Theater Company. Television came in 2004, when she made her debut on Rescue Me.
Her breakout role arrived in 2007 as department store heiress Rachel Menken Katz on AMC’s Mad Men, earning her and the ensemble cast a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
In 2008, she was cast as Dr. Tara Knowles on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, a role she held for six seasons through 2013. That performance earned her two Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
By 2016, she joined the Showtime series Billions as psychiatrist Wendy Rhoades, a role she held across all seven seasons.
Siff’s estimated net worth stands at $8 million, built primarily through her long-running television career.
Paul Ratliff Bio
Paul Ratliff was born and raised in the United States, reportedly in Los Angeles, California. He was a private person throughout his life, rarely seeking public attention despite his wife’s prominent career in Hollywood. His exact birth date was never publicly confirmed.
Ratliff is described by multiple sources as thoughtful, warm, and family-oriented. Maggie praised him in a 2013 interview with Us Weekly, saying he was going to be a great dad and that he had a naturally good-natured personality that brought laughter to those around him.
Despite being married to a celebrated television actress, he appeared at only a handful of public events, including the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards cocktail reception in Los Angeles.
His family background is not publicly documented. No information has been confirmed about his parents, siblings, or early childhood.
After High School
After completing high school, Ratliff enrolled at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, focusing on film, video studies, and theater. That academic background led directly to a brief stint in acting during the 1980s.
Years later, he made a significant career shift. In 2015, he enrolled at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California and completed a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology in 2018. This transition marked the beginning of his career as a licensed mental health professional.
Paul Ratliff Career
Ratliff’s professional life covered three distinct phases across several decades. In the early 1980s, he worked as an actor.
His credits include 15 episodes of Cheers (1983–1986) as a bar patron, a one-episode appearance on General Hospital (1983) as a bartender, and a role as a naval officer in To Be or Not to Be (1983).
None of these were major parts, and he moved on from acting before the decade ended.
His second career was in research and consulting. From 1995 to 1997, he worked at E-lab as an applied ethnographer, conducting research in the automotive, telecommunications, beauty, electronic goods, and health industries.
He then joined Sapient as a senior manager and researcher. Later, he worked with major companies including Johnson & Johnson, applying ethnographic research methods to consumer health products.
He also founded his own consultancy focused on innovation research methods and collaborative analysis.
His third and final career was in mental health. After completing his master’s degree in 2018, he became a licensed marriage and family therapist.
Since 2020, he practiced at the Erika Malm Collective in New York, where he worked with individuals and families on relationship counseling and mental health support until his death in 2021.
Paul Ratliff Relationship
Paul and Maggie’s relationship began through email while she was filming Sons of Anarchy. Their correspondence grew into a full romantic relationship before they ever became a frequent in-person pair. That email history became part of their story in a meaningful way.
They married in October 2012. For their first wedding anniversary, Paul had all of their email exchanges printed and bound into a book as a gift to Maggie. In October 2013, Maggie announced she was expecting their first child. Their daughter, Lucy Ratliff, was born on April 14, 2014.
The family lived in Los Angeles before eventually relocating to Brooklyn, New York. They also shared their home with a cat named Iris and a Labradoodle named Augie. Both Maggie and Paul avoided social media, a choice that kept their private life well-protected from public scrutiny.
Paul passed away in December 2021 after a battle with brain cancer. His illness had not been disclosed publicly before his death. Wikipedia confirms that Siff’s husband died in 2021 of brain cancer, and multiple reports indicate the family kept the details of his illness private.
After his death, Maggie continued to grieve privately, in keeping with how the couple had always chosen to live.
Paul Ratliff Net Worth
Paul Ratliff’s net worth at the time of his death was never publicly confirmed. Some sources estimate it in the range of $300,000 to $4 million, reflecting earnings from his decades in consulting and his later work as a licensed therapist.
No verified figure has been reported by a major news outlet, so any specific number should be treated as an estimate only.
His wife Maggie Siff, by contrast, has a well-documented net worth of approximately $8 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Her earnings come primarily from her roles on Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, and Billions, along with her work as a television spokesperson for the financial advisory service Betterment since 2018.
The couple maintained a comfortable lifestyle in New York, and their financial situation was supplemented by Ratliff’s consulting and therapy income throughout his career. Yet the exact figure for his personal estate remains not publicly confirmed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Paul Ratliff?
Paul Ratliff was an American psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and former design strategist. He became widely known as the husband of actress Maggie Siff.
How did Paul Ratliff die?
Paul Ratliff passed away in December 2021 after a battle with brain cancer. His illness was kept private by the family and was not publicly disclosed before his death.
When did Maggie Siff and Paul Ratliff get married?
They married in October 2012. Their relationship began through email correspondence while Maggie was filming Sons of Anarchy.
Did Paul Ratliff have children?
Yes. Paul and Maggie welcomed a daughter, Lucy Ratliff, on April 14, 2014. She was their only child.
What did Paul Ratliff study?
He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wesleyan University in 1988, with a focus on film, video studies, and theater. Later he earned a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2018.
The Bottom Line
Paul Ratliff lived a life that spanned acting, corporate research, and mental health therapy, all while deliberately staying out of the spotlight his wife occupied.
He married Maggie Siff in 2012 and the two built a private, grounded family life together in New York with their daughter Lucy.
His career in counseling psychology, cut short by brain cancer, reflected a genuine interest in helping others navigate mental health and relationships.
He passed away in December 2021, and his illness was kept private in the same way the couple had always chosen to keep their personal life.
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